30. Orlando Magic (15-41, Last Week: 29): The Magic have lost five games in a row, with one of those losses coming at the hands of the league-worst Charlotte Bobcats.
29. Charlotte Bobcats (13-43, Last Week: 30): The Bobcats maintain the worst record in the league, and have lost three games in a row.
28. Phoenix Suns (18-39, Last Week: 28): The Suns have lost three games in a row.
27. Sacramento Kings (19-38, Last Week: 26): The Kings have struggled lately; losing five games in a row.
26. Philadelphia 76ers (22-32, Last Week: 22): Having lost five games in a row, the Sixers didn’t have much to be hopeful about as head coach Doug Collins had only discouraging thoughts on Andrew Bynum’s return this season.
25. Minnesota Timberwolves (20-33, Last Week: 26): The Wolves have lost seven of their last ten games, and things don’t appear to be working out in their favor as they have a three-game road trip coming up.
24. Portland Trailblazers (26-30, Last Week: 24): The Blazers lost seven games in a row before defeating the Boston Celtics on Sunday.
23. Detroit Pistons (22-36, Last Week: 23): The Pistons went 1-3 last week, with their only victory coming against the lowly Charlotte Bobcats.
22. New Orleans Hornets (20-37, Last Week: 21): The Hornets also went 1-3 last week.
21. Milwaukee Bucks (26-28, Last Week: 19): The Bucks have lost seven of their last eight games.
Next Page: Middle Of The Pack
20. Cleveland Cavaliers (18-38, Last Week: 25): The Cavs have gone 5-5 in their last ten games, and went 2-1 last week, with their only loss coming in a close game against the Miami Heat. The Cavs have improved their level of play as of late.
19. Washington Wizards (17-37, Last Week: 20): Despite the horrible record, the Wizards have actually played quite well since John Wall’s return; having won six of their last eight games.
18. Dallas Mavericks (25-30, Last Week: 18): Mavs went 2-1 last week, losing to Kobe Bryant and the Lakers most recently on Sunday.
17. Toronto Raptors (23-33, Last Week: 17): The Raps have won seven of their last eight games. Additionally Rudy Gay had 32 points for his new team in a 100-98 victory over the New York Knicks.
16. Boston Celtics (29-27, Last Week: 9): It feels good to drop the Celtics this week. After winning seven straight games, Boston has leveled off a bit. Not to mention that the Lakers gave them some payback for an earlier loss, last week.
15. New York Knicks (33-20, Last Week: 6): The Knicks have lost four of five games recently, and simply haven’t looked like the team that started out hot this season. Maybe the drop is a bit much, but the Knicks look vulnerable right now.
14. Chicago Bulls (32-24, Last Week: 10): The Bulls have went 2-2 since the All Star break. However, huge losses against the Miami Heat (86-67) and Oklahoma City Thunder (102-72) prove that Chicago needs Derrick Rose in a big way to even compete with the juggernauts of the league.
13. Golden State Warriors (33-23, Last Week: 16): The Warriors lost six game in a row, but have followed that up by winning three straight games; one including an overtime victory over the league-best San Antonio Spurs.
12. Brooklyn Nets (33-24, Last Week: 11): Two losses at home drop the Nets here.
11. Utah Jazz (31-25, Last Week: 14): The Jazz have only played two games since the All Star break, and split the two by going 1-1 against the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers, respectively.
Next Page: Heat Claim Top Spot
10. Houston Rockets (31-27, Last Week: 15): The Rockets pulled off a victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder, one in which James Harden scored a career-high 46 points against his former team. However, the Rockets went on to lose to the Washington Wizards on Saturday.
9. Los Angeles Lakers (28-29, Last Week: 13): I caught some flack last week for placing the Lakers ahead of the Jazz and Rockets, and maybe rightfully so. I am a bit biased, but I do think that the three teams each hold a similar amount of clout, so I’ll go ahead and give the Lakers a slight edge over the two teams they’re trying to catch. Additionally, the team has been playing well together despite Pau Gasol’s absence, and have gone 11-4 since an apparent turning of the corner. Oh yeah, that guy Kobe Bryant is playing at an extremely high level as well. Dr. Buss’ death has seemingly motivated the team to achieve a level of greatness that the late owner so richly built. Being ninth on the list is probably a bit high for a team not even guaranteed a playoff spot, but think “self-fulfilling prophecy,” people!
8. Atlanta Hawks (31-23, Last Week: 11): The Hawks didn’t end up trading Josh Smith after all.
7. Denver Nuggets (35-22, Last Week: 7): The Nuggets 2-1 since the All-Star break, but are an extremely solid home team. They’ll face the Los Angeles Lakers tonight.
6. Indiana Pacers (35-21, Last Week: 8): The Pacers have won four in a row and are playing well, and even Danny Granger made his season debut on Saturday against the Pistons. Granger had just two points in 18 minutes, however.
5. Memphis Grizzlies (37-18, Last Week: 5): The Grizzlies are hot right now, having won seven games in a row; three of which have come on the road. More impressively is that they’ve done so after the loss of Rudy Gay.
4. Los Angeles Clippers (40-18, Last Week: 3): The Clips got trounced by the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday, which is concerning for a team trying to contend for a championship.
3. Oklahoma City Thunder (41-15, Last Week: 4): The Thunder did lose three straight before defeating the Timberwolves and Bulls, respectively. Kevin Durant has been phenomenal, though.
2. San Antonio Spurs (45-13, Last Week: 1): One loss can knock you out of first place when you’re at the top, as it has done for the Spurs who lost to the Warriors on Friday. However, I’m sure Greg Popovich isn’t concerned.
1. Miami Heat (40-14, Last Week: 2): LeBron James has been playing out of his mind, Dwyane Wade has come alive, and the Heat have won 11 games straight. LeBron and the Heat have shown that they’re not content with just one title, and are taking their pursuit of a “repeat” very seriously. Lil Wayne is not happy right now.